Field
This disclosure relates generally to integrated circuits, and more particularly, to memories that have characteristics of random access memories (RAMs) and non-volatile memories (NVMs).
Related Art
The promise of a single memory type that has all of the desirable characteristics of a non-volatile memory (NVM) and a random access memory (RAM), such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) or a static random access memory (SRAM), has not been fulfilled but there has been some success in combining NVMs and RAMs to achieve some characteristics of a RAM while still being non-volatile. The desire is to achieve the speed, both read and write, of an SRAM while still being truly non-volatile and having very high endurance while being the same size as a flash memory. Technologies such as MRAM and other resistance RAMs have come closer to the speed objective but still, especially in writing, are slower than SRAMs and DRAMs although much faster than floating gate memories which are by far the most common type of NVM in current production. Thus, the newer NVM technologies have some advantages over floating gate such as endurance but are still not as fast as RAMs. Thus, the typical solution remains using SRAM or DRAM where needed for speed and floating gate as needed for non-volatility.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide further improvement in obtaining a memory that has the speed of RAM while also being non-volatile.